Amazon India's top executive Samir Kumar to return to US

Samir Kumar, VP of category management at Amazon India, who was part of the team that set up India operations of the e-commerce giant in 2013, will be moving back to its headquarters in Seattle, sources familiar with the matter told TOI.Digbijay Mishra | TNN | April 19, 2016, 13:16 IST

BENGALURU: Samir Kumar, VP of category management at Amazon India, who was part of the team that set up India operations of the e-commerce giant in 2013, will be moving back to its headquarters in Seattle, sources familiar with the matter told TOI. Kumar was counted among the 'powerful trio' at Amazon India comprising also Amit Agarwal, the country head, and Amit Desphande, who was heading the seller's business.

Kumar has been driving all the brand partnerships at Amazon India and was instrumental in striking exclusive brand launches across categories like One Plus, Xiaomi, Fitbit, Lenovo phones, Microsoft's Xbox, Whirlpool's Kitchen Aid brand, Philips, GOQii among others. Another member of the troika, Deshpande, too, moved back to the US middle of last year and was replaced by Gopal Pillai who was then the general manager, consumer electronics at Amazon.

Having joined Amazon as a systems engineer in 1999, Kumar has held various positions within Amazon which include being the director of international expansion among other roles. When contacted, an Amazon India spokesperson confirmed Kumar's departure from India without giving further details.

However, an email sent by TOI for a detailed response did not elicit a response.

"Since 2014, exclusive brand launches have been the key trigger to acquire customers and boost sales for Amazon. While Flipkart was pushing hard on these launches,Kumar became the flag-bearer for Amazon on that front," a source said who did not want to be named. He may still be involved with the Indian operations for some time till the handover process is completed, people familiar with the matter said.

The exit comes at a time when Amazon is attaching greater importance to its Indian operations outside of its home market of US to topple homegrown rival Flipkart. It has pumped in over Rs 6,700 crore since January 2015 in to India unit.